My First Day Of My Academic Career

This led me to a chain of decisions that literally brings me here today. First, my employer propositioned me to move to New York City to work for our New York office. Had they asked a year prior, I probably would have declined the offer due to my fear of the unknown and risk aversive nature, but not in 2006. With little consultation and input from my parents I took that leap of faith. Coinciding with this major decision was a dear friend’s wedding in London in the

“NO!” Those were the words I uttered when I learned that we were moving from Seattle, Washington to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. These two cities seemed worlds apart, in my mind at age thirteen. I wanted nothing more than to remain at home, but I was taken from one world to another. In retrospect, I feel that I benefited greatly from the move.

During my second semester at Southwest Mississippi Community College, I had finally gotten comfortable at the school: I had made friends, and I was doing well in all of my classes. Well, all except for college algebra. I have never been good at algebra; this class was no exception. I tried my very best to understand the material, but my mind just could not comprehend much of the material that we covered in class. Because of my own inability to understand the material, I never finished any of my homework, and I did not do well on any of the tests that I had taken. I had later come to realize that my inability to understand the material was not the fault of anyone but myself.

When I was a little kid we lived in Alabama.My dad had a job that involved moving around a lot. When we first moved I didn’t really like it, but I was also going excited because we were going somewhere new. Through out my life till now I have lived in seven different places. I visited many different towns and cities. I didn’t always agree/love moving. So here's my story.

I thought that I had found the job of my dreams, and possibly my career. A job where everything was perfect and I progressed quickly, but an unexpected turn of events quickly proved me wrong. I went from having an awesome office job to being unemployed; however, having to find a new start proved to be more beneficial than I expected.

Prior to attending Syracuse University, in another word, during my senior year of high school career, I was striving for all difference kinds of “academic success” that would strengthen my resume and increase the possibility of me being accepted by better college. Such “academic success” contains high SAT score, 4.0 GPA, abundant extra-curricular activities, including the ones that I personally will not be interested in ever. All I aspired after was the chance of attending a prestigious college, with no reasons; I deliberated about nothing in regard to why attending a prestigious college would be beneficial to me because what I have thought at all time was highly ranked college would offer me a higher stage of better future job opportunity. Now here I am, a college student without any idea what future career of me would be; an “excellent sheep”

Moving out of your comfort zone is difficult. When being used to certain people and certain things, then having to get up one day and all is changed is challenging. A new city means one will have to adapt to the way things are around the community. In my ninth grade year of high school, I moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Moving to a new town or city is hard. It is a good experience, but it is also a dreadful one for some. Moving back to Vicksburg, Mississippi has affected me in various ways.

One reason in particular was that I really just didn’t want to have to waste a whole other semester retaking the course. I talked myself into thinking that if I dropped the course and had to take it again, that I would end up getting off track in terms of graduating in a timely manner. This would not have been the case, I could have easily taken more credits during another semester to make up for it. Furthermore, when I said to myself that I would simply work harder, I failed to make a plan as to what that would entail. All I did was say that I will work harder, but failed to figure out how I would actually accomplish doing so. Another reason this decision was lousy was that I let my pride get in the way of making the proper decision. I didn’t want to drop and therefore admit that I was struggling and ultimately needed help. When I look back at my thinking, I did think to seek help from my instructor, but let my pride get in the way and never sought help. Ultimately I didn’t think things over long enough and I didn’t weigh the pros and cons in order to make the best decision possible. If I could go back and do it again I would evaluate the situation more

not want to continue to work at jobs that had no guarantee on my future. I worked in the

Moving around for most of my life, I never really was able to settle when I was a kid. From birth to the age of seven, we moved multiple times around the country until we finally settled in Vermont. I never really liked the question “Where are you from” as I never knew what to say. I always state either New York, or California as I was born in New York, but I lived in California for so long I connected with that more. More recently I have been having to say Vermont, but there I just never felt in.

There I was, a sophomore in high school nervously selecting my classes for the next year. I realized I would not want to be taking an AP english class along with 2 math classes.Now I find I’m in a pinch to find something. I see my friends choosing gym classes or other blow offs, however I wanted to challenge myself. I look through the list feverishly and see a class that stood out, sociology. I had always done well in social studies classes so I figured it would be a good choice. Over the next five months or so I put almost no thought into what the class may bring or even the fact it may end up on my schedule. I had come to realize that I would be in the class at the beginning of the year upon getitng my schedule.

As the end of the semester and final grades were quickly approaching, there was only one class in my way from keeping my scholarship: Calculus. Throughout the semester I had been trying and failing to sustain a B in the class, even though I had attended every class, done every homework assignment, and studied at least 20 hours for each exam. My only chance to receive a B in the class was the final exam, which was worth almost two times the amount of points that the other three exams were worth. My mind was full of anxiety and negative thinking about the future, such as if I didn’t pass the exam with a B+ or better, then I would not be able to continue my education at West Virginia University. Basically, all my future endeavors were riding on

Moving from Kearney, Nebraska to Nixa, Missouri was a little tough at first. It made me realize who my real friends were and how much i was going to miss my family back home. Also I realized it’s hard to move in general.

When I turned two, I moved from Silverdale, Washington to Portland, Oregon. I loved going to the park there to ride on the back of my parents bikes, I had so much fun there and I consider that is where I discovered my love of rain. The amount of rain people get in Portland is insane. It rains about every day and I loved how the drops fell on my face. I loved the puddles it produced. I was citizen of Portland for one year. My family and I thought Portland was stunning, but we were not close to family, who we missed greatly.

I didn’t know how to study, I hadn’t bonded with any of the students, I wasn’t a part of any of the study groups, and I didn’t know how to study. I was too embarrassed and ashamed to ask for help. In my senior year, last semester of college things go so bad that I eventually failed a class. I failed my final chemistry class, the only class I had left to graduate. I had failed by less than a tenth of a point; I needed a 70 and I had a 69.49. I swallowed my pride and spoke to someone about it. I was advised to speak to the professor. I thought that was worse than failing the class itself. But I swallowed my pride and requested a conference. I asked the professor what I could do. His answer was simple, he said ‘nothing, if you were having problems, you should have come to me during the course of the class…I would have helped you…and…I would have given you the point.” My heart dropped, I couldn’t argue with him because this was the predicament that I had found myself in time and time again. I was afraid to speak up and ask for help. My shyness had caused me to avoid speaking with professors or asking for help. I did retake the class and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry.